1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to medical appliances and, more particularly, is concerned with a ventilator and trach holder device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A person may require assistance in the process of breathing. A ventilator circuit and tracheostomy tube (or trach) assembly may be employed to provide such assistance. The ventilator circuit or trach assembly, however, may become inadvertently disconnected from a patient during suctioning of the trach assembly or during patient agitation or by other means. Such inadvertent disconnection may result in the deprivation of oxygen, inadequate ventilation and/or possible death. A variety of devices have therefore been developed over the years to prevent disconnection.
Representative examples of these prior art devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,200 to Wapner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,778 to Lott, U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,463 to Hammersley, U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,952 to Schuster et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,938 to McKenzie, U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,421 to Noureldin et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,881 to Rogers et al. While these prior art devices appear to be satisfactory for the specific purposes for which they were designed, none of them seem to provide an effective and comprehensive solution for the problem at hand.
Consequently, a need still exists for a device which provides an optimum solution to the aforementioned problem in the prior art without introducing any new problems in place thereof.